Trails play key role in transportation's future

Diane Bakos' letter to the editor about trails being "simply unnecessary" reflects a diminishing but still problematic misconception about the role of active transportation in today's America.

The current generation of young Americans is less likely to get a driver's license than their parents, and biking and walking, in city and country, is one of the fastest growing modes of daily transportation. In many places, 40 percent of people don't have access to a car, including many seniors and low-income workers. It's why Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's work creating active transportation pathways is as important as our work preserving rail corridors for future rail service reactivation.

The key word here is "transportation." Every day, millions of people bike or walk to work or school, to businesses, or for other regular trips. By doing so they reduce the congestion on our roads, and reduce the billions spent annually on reactive health care. But these trips are only possible if we invest in the appropriate infrastructure.

We, too, are eager for officials to be responsible. That shouldn't include doubling down on a single-mode system that ignores changing transportation habits, has proven itself to be financially unsustainable, and continues to compromise the health and livability of American communities.